


Sunshine, Rainbows and a Vibrator

by Rhavia



Series: That One Sex Shop AU [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: AU, Implied Matsuoka Rin/Nitori Aiichirou, Implied Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto, M/M, Mostly cute and fluffy, Possibly some Matsuoka Gou/Mikoshiba Seijuurou, Sex Shop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-01-21 19:52:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1562054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhavia/pseuds/Rhavia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"A moment later, they're both leaning over from either end of the counter and clutching the still-vibrating dildo between them."</p><p>Sex shop AU in which Rei is an assistant at said shop and Nagisa is a first-time customer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, you know that post that was floating around Tumblr a couple weeks ago with a bunch of AU prompts? I was skimming it and as soon as I read "sex shop au" this just... happened. The setting is basically the Ann Summers store we have in my city, fyi, though I've tried to be vague about toy details because I'm not exactly an expert. (Also, thanks to Myarna for letting me text spam her and for checking this over for me! She basically picked the title because she is wonderful.)

Nagisa turns a full 360 degrees, awestruck. The shop isn’t particularly large but _damn_ is it packed. He isn’t quite sure what he was expecting but an oddly sectioned off circular area in the middle of the store where the walls are crammed with sex toys? Yeah, definitely not that. He wants something, he really does, but he’s not sure where to even begin. It’s difficult to have a proper think about what you're looking for when there is literally a dildo staring you in the face from every single angle.

He eventually reaches the conclusion that he should conquer one of the smaller sections first: the butt plugs. There are so many phallic-shaped items around him, a number of which look worryingly intimidating— _honestly, how do they even_ —that this seems like a safer start, even if he's not sure he even wants one. At least these are generally tailored to guys, right?

He crouches down rather precariously to check out the various types; mostly the same shape and size, some in the silliest colours. If he gets one, Nagisa decides, it will most definitely have to be in hot pink.

There is movement behind him, indicating that someone else has joined him in the Almighty Sex Toy Display Cubicle. _Oh god_ , he thinks. He's not one to be shy but even he would admit to feeling a little awkward being caught kneeling down looking at butt plugs while someone else tries to find a toy that tickles their fancy. He focusses solely on the pegs in front of him, at least hoping the other shopper isn't a guy to make things less awkward. What if it _is_ a guy? What if it’s a _hot_ guy?

"Can I help you with anything, sir?"

Nagisa isn’t expecting the other person to talk, let alone for them to _actually be a guy_. And so, he finds himself very gracefully toppling to the floor in surprise. The other male makes a sound that Nagisa can only describe as the verbalisation of an exclamation point and hurries to help him up.

"I am so, so sorry," he flusters, offering his hand for support.

"That's okay! I was just surprised," Nagisa chirps, his hair flopping over his face as he lets himself be pulled up. His cheeks feel warm but he grins despite them because, well, had it been anyone but him, he would have been too incapacitated by laughter to really be of much help. This assistant doesn’t laugh at him though, for which his eternally grateful. Suspicious, but grateful. Who wouldn’t laugh at someone for falling on their ass in the middle of an aisle full of dildos?

Nagisa dusts himself off, fixes his hair. "Ahh, thank you! Let's just forget that that happened. Some help would be—"

He made a mistake. He made an awful, terrible mistake. He turned his gaze to the sales assistant. _Oh no, he's hot._

This is dreadful. This isn't just incidentally looking at sex toys while in close proximity to another guy. It isn’t even idle chatter. He is going to have to talk about which items from the glorious display of toys he’s looking to use, _on himself_ , with a complete and utter, and ridiculously good-looking, stranger.

Nagisa realises he’s staring but by this point he has no regrets; might as well enjoy the view before he descends into a mumbling mess. This guy, okay, he’s tall and muscled, like, 'I work out at the gym on a regular basis, where people can see me’ type muscled and _damn_ Nagisa has to find out where—and he looks far too good in the black shirt he wears for uniform. _Far_ too good. It should be illegal to look that fine. What was he trying to do to customers? _He probably looks even better under it_ , Nagisa mused—

"Is everything all right, sir?" the assistant asks hesitantly, and Nagisa notes how he makes this cute little movement to push up his glasses - probably to hide his face. _Now he probably thinks there's something on that perfectly perfect face of his—_

"Ahh, sorry sorry! I just, I haven't been in this shop before, and—” _I totally wasn't just picturing you shirtless, no, nope, don't know what you're taking about_ — "It's, well, it's kinda intimidating, you know, to be surrounded by... well..." He waves a hand about the area, trying his very best not to just say "dicks".

He has already embarrassed himself enough, thank you very much.

He's not even that daunted by them, really, (besides the freakin' monstrous ones, like what even??) and he's pretty chill about being a newbie in a sex shop. But damn, this assistant. If he'd seen this wonderful specimen when he'd first walked in he would have made an effort to be more suave; would have known exactly what he wanted. Instead he just looks like a babbling 15-year-old who’s trying to sneak into a sex shop for shits and giggles.

 _Oh my god, I am going to get kicked out for looking underage_ , he realises with dismay. Darn his charmingly boyish features!

The assistant is smiling, though, as if he deals with this in a regular basis. Nagisa doesn’t doubt it and it's a relief in one way. Hopefully someone else had made more of a fool of themselves than he just had. On the other hand, he is never normally this flustered and is now becoming even more flustered at his utter loss for what to do with himself.

"It's all right," the assistant says, though he quite abruptly takes a step back, cheeks flushed slightly as if he suddenly decided that he was standing too close. A smile twitches at the corner Nagisa's mouth. Perhaps he's doing okay after all.

 _Rei_ , he notices on the assistants name badge. Rei is a nice name.

"Were you looking for anything in particular?" Rei continues, glancing at the selection for himself. "I see you were looking at the butt plugs."

Nagisa feels his face heat up, the tips of his ears turn pink. Yes, they definitely are going to have this conversation, it seems. To top it off, Rei is far too casual sounding for this. Completely calm. He doesn’t even look like they type to be shopping here, let alone _work_ here. He looks all maths and science, all figures and facts, not all... well, sex and kinky times. Nagisa isn't sure what to make of this information. He's the perfect combination. _Imagine him taking charge in the bedroom, being all methodical while he—_

"No!" he blurts out. Whether he's addressing Rei or himself doesn't really matter anymore. He stumbles over his next words to correct himself, "Sorry! I mean, I'm not sure if I want one, they look kinda, well... I don't really—" Oh god. His brain is mush. How is he going to make it through this conversation?

He takes a deep breath. "I haven't used anything before," he ends up finishing lamely.

Rei considers him for a moment, and Nagisa feels himself heat up under his gaze. _He's not even really looking at me, goddammit Nagisa, pull yourself together!_

"Hm, yes, I think I know what might be best," Rei says, nodding to himself, making to move towards the front of the store. "If you'd join me at the tills I can show you? We keep some display products there."  
  
Nagisa nods and follows the taller man. He feels better now that he's admitted that he's new to this, not that he's embarrassed by it but at least they now have a starting point. He finds that it's helpful that Rei is so serious and collected about the whole thing. _Plus, he looks cute when he's thinking._  
  
He drums his fingers absently on the top of the counter while Rei searches for the item, quite happy to be free of The Great Dildo Enclosure.

"Here it is," Rei says a moment later, head popping back up from under the desk. He places a lidless box onto the counter. Nagisa leans over to peer into it. _Its pink_ , is the first thing he notices, an immediate bonus. It's also a dildo, of course, but this one narrows towards the tip, a far friendlier looking design than most of the others. Even at its thickest it’s no more than the average girth of the other toys he’s seen that day.

"It's called the Serena Vibrator," supplies Rei, pulling it out and holding it in his hands. "It's very flexible, so a lot of beginners find it more comfortable than our other products." He demonstrates this before offering the toy to Nagisa, who does his best to ignore the fact that their fingers brush as he takes it.

 _Wow, it really does bend_ , he thinks. He figured that dildos would kinda require some degree of flexibility but this is more that he would have expected. He also expected them to be... smoother? This one has a weird rubbery texture that he isn't too sure about. Silicone or something?

"It's made of PVC," Rei confirms. Nagisa grins sheepishly when he realises that be must have been making a weird face towards the object in his hands. "They're far more comfortable when in use; lubricant takes away the friction. Although, you will need to use a lot of it if it is for anal usage, of course, and you'll need to be sure that you use the right type of lubricant too. PVC can be—"

At this point Nagisa would admit to having stopped listening. He can feel his face growing warm again and he’s starting to wonder about Rei - in a completely innocent way! It wasn't natural not to at least a smile awkwardly or blush when giving someone tips on _anal penetration_ , no matter how long you’ve been doing your job. And it can't have been that long because Rei looks around his age, no older than 20, 21, at most. Yet here he is discussing the different kinds of lubricant one can buy from their store in a startling amount of detail. He’s like a knowledge machine. _Most definitely maths and science - why is he working here of all places??_

Rei coughs. Nagisa abruptly snaps out if his daze and tries to look like he were present.

"I'm sorry," the assistant says, fumbling to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Nagisa revels in the little pink blush that spreads across his cheeks. "I... went off on a tangent. My apologies. Do you have any questions?"

"Mm, I don't think so," Nagisa replies, twirling the toy around in his hands. He practically throws it in the air when it begins to vibrate unexpectedly, letting out a yelp.

A moment later, they're both leaning over from either end of the counter and clutching the still-vibrating dildo between them.

Nagisa looks, wide-eyed, from the toy to Rei. "I, uh, might night not have been listening when you said it was a vibrator too," he confesses, to which Rei turns rather red in the face. He tentatively reaches out with his other hand to turn back the dial at the base of the toy. The vibrations stop.

Nagisa is the first to laugh. He releases his grip and descends into a fit of giggles. Rei’s face looks like sour grapes from his supressed smile but he eventually caves in. He chuckles, eyes dancing, and carefully places the dildo back into its box, lest anything else go wrong. Nagisa supposes it must be rude to laugh at customers but Rei shows far more restraint that he could ever manage.

He wipes at the corner of his eye, talking around the odd giggle. "Sorry. That one seems good! I think I’ll go for it."

Rei, lips still tilted upwards (which is doing things to Nagisa’s heart, _damn he’s so cute too_ ), slips back beneath the counter to return the box. When he reappears his face is more serious. "I’m afraid we don’t actually stock this one in store but we can order it in for you for no extra charge."

Nagisa beams. "Yeah, that’s fine!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may come back and fix bits and pieces of this chapter later. Parts of it I really like, parts of it I'm kinda ehhh about. Writing for Rei is so much harder than Nagisa, is2g. On that (probably discouraging, whoops!) note, I hope you enjoy!

Rei is in the process of slipping out of his coat when the staff room door opens. Kou strides in, ponytail swishing behind her as she makes her way to the storage cupboard. He can feel himself blending into the background, as is the usual when she’s on a mission, so he offers a polite, “Good afternoon,” without expecting much notice in return.

“Oh, hey Rei!” She casts him a quick, bright smile, and then swings open the all-too-heavy stock room door with such force that still doesn’t cease to amaze him. It remains held open by her foot as she proceeds to lean forward and let the darkness inside swallow her entire torso. “Someone really needs to fix this goddamn light,” she mutters, despite being able to balance rather expertly on her toes.

He assumes she’s trying to match her customer’s order code to one of the items but it is literally an impossible task with a blown out light bulb and only the half-hearted flickering lights in their staff room to do the job.

They have both pleaded with their boss for months to hire someone to fix the issue but she seems to be under the impression that if she leaves it long enough they will eventually fix it themselves. Rei has attempted to reason with Miho, making it abundantly clear that he is a _Physics major_ , not an electrical engineering student or something of the sort, but she simply waves her hand and says she’ll get round to it. It’s a miracle, really, that no one has been electrocuted by the open fuse yet. _Nothing will change until one of us actually_ is _, most likely…_

Neither of them attempts to try the flashlight anymore, either. They get told off for wasting product batteries on it.

Jacket now removed and hung up, Rei takes the weight of the door with his hand and holds it as wide as possible to at least let through an inkling of light.

“Hey, you know—oh, thanks!—” Dropping back down to her two feet, Kou now looks through the boxes at closer inspection. “—Your boyfriend is here, by the way.”

Rei feels a frown tug at his lips. Whomever she is speaking about, he’s quite sure he has not entered into a relationship with anyone. He’s not even sure they have any mutual friends out with work colleagues, so how she would even know escapes him. “What?”

“Yeah, I’m collecting something for him, actually,” she continues casually, practically shoving the customer’s reference card in his face when she waves it behind her. He plucks it from her fingertips and adjusts his glasses, reading the name printed in neat hand. Well, that name _did_ sound familiar, but he had been the one to write it, after all. Was he not the one who— _Oh._

His cheeks flush and he stutters out a weak, “H-he’s not—we’re not—”

“Oh my god, I can practically hear you blushing, Rei!” Kou returns from the depths of the room, a small parcel in her hands. One look at his all too red face has her grinning from ear to ear. He quickly adjusts his glasses, letting the door fall closed. “I’m not gonna judge you, you know, it’s all cool. He’s cute.”

_No, that’s—that is not the issue here!_

“Kou, he’s not—”

“Rei, stop worrying!” she laughs, slapping his arm lightly. “You can like whoever you want. I mean, I did always wonder why you never looked at the girls who come into the store…”

She holds the package under her arm to keep it out of the way and Rei’s stomach sinks. He knows exactly what is coming. “Rei, it’s okay if you prefer this,” she pauses, pushing her two index fingers against each other. He’s dying inside. This is it; he’s going to start his shift completely mortified by her teasing _yet again_ and be a fumbling mess. That doesn’t stop him from watching as Kou curls the fingers of one hand so that they make a small entryway, into which she inserts her index finger. She continues, “To this. It’s totally okay.”

He is beyond flustered now; he won’t even try to hide it. She’s playing with him, he knows she is (and _she_ knows all too well how to push his buttons) but he rises to the bait regardless, every single time.

“Oh god, Kou, no, not again—that’s– that could be either anyway! But—but you know why I don’t!”

“Yeah yeah, ‘cause you’re ace or whatever, I know.” She giggles, illusion broken, bangs bobbing around her face. “Sorry Rei, I’m just kidding. But you know what? I’m also hungry, so,” she says, pressing the package into his hand, “I think I’ll take my fifteen minute break now and you can finish serving the cutie by the till!”

She gives him a wink, then ushers him out the door.

Rei takes a moment to compose himself, willing away his red stained cheeks and heavy breathing. Kou can be lovely but sometimes he thinks she lives life to torment people just when they’ve began to consider her a trustworthy friend. What’s more, if she hadn’t gone into a spiel about, well, _that_ , he’s quite sure she could have offered him some useful advice.

When he heads towards the counter he finds the blond absently playing with one of the stores free sample packets of lubricant, leaning over the desk and twirling it between his fingers. _This seems to be a habit of his._ He tries not to admit to himself that it’s perhaps one of the most adorable habits a person can have. Nagisa stops abruptly though when Rei slips behind the counter. The blond’s eyes positively light up and he accidentally flicks the little packet across the counter as he straightens himself. It hits Rei’s chest and they both watch as it slides down his shirt towards the floor.

Rei allows his lips to curve into a smirk. Under any other circumstances, this blond would irritate him to no end, but he is just too cute. _Absolutely ridiculous_ , of course, but painfully endearing all the same. He doesn’t recall ever having a customer be so consistently flustered and make so many blunders and actually return. _Nothing fazes him_.

He’s crushing, he realises. He’s crushing hard. This is terrible. He can’t have a crush on a customer, _especially not when I work in a store like this!_ It would come across as disturbing or creepy, there really was no way around it, and he couldn’t—

“You okay?” the blond asks. He had been laughing previously but now his face is taking on a pout as his giggles subside. They turn into an awkward chuckle instead as he says, “Uh, sorry for hitting you…”

 _Gosh, he looks so sweet,_ with his eyebrows knitted together and his bit eyes focussed on Rei (who is hard-pressed to find an excuse not to gaze into them, _they’re such a strangely lovely colour…_ ).

“Yes, yes, sorry. I was just—thinking.” Rei dips down quickly to pick up the forgotten packet, and for a second to recompose and banish the offending redness in his cheeks. He pops the packet back into its stand when he returns. His eyes hover over to the computer so that he doesn’t have to make eye contact. This is precisely the kind of reaction Kou had hoped he would have. He makes a mental note not to help her out next time her customer-crush, who just so unfortunately happens to be her brother’s swimming coach, is in the store.

“So, Hazuki Nagisa, yes?”

“Mm-hm!” the blond hums.

Rei pulls out a bag and pops the boxed package inside, and then remembers that he forgot to explain why he is even here. He doesn’t want to come across as overeager to serve the blond. _Of all the workplaces to get a crush on a customer._ “Oh! Kou was due a break, sorry for taking over for her so suddenly.”

Nagisa’s eyes widen dramatically and Rei worries that he has said something horribly wrong – or worse. _Did he speak his mind there without realising?!_

“Kou? As in Matsuoka Gou?” he asks frantically.

 _Oh, thank god_. “Y-yes…?”

“Oh my god, Rinrin’s sister works here? I thought she looked familiar!”

Oh. That would not do. Kou had warned him, many times and quite violently, that it was of the utmost importance that her brother did not find out she worked here. No exceptions. Here’s hoping that the blond would not tattle – assuming that he didn’t want to get caught making purchases from such a store. Rei wasn’t quite sure Nagisa was the type to really mind about that being a secret though.

“I… believe so,” Rei hedges. “I don’t think Kou would like for her brother to find out, though.”

Nagisa grins, nods viciously. “Of course, of course! I don’t really see Rin much anyway.”

Well, that was some comfort. He decides it best to finish serving the blond and steer away from this topic. Teasing from Kou was bad enough; he didn’t particularly want to find out what threats were like from her.

“Have you been in to buy any lubricant since your last visit?” he questions. The blond’s eyes snap open again, clearly not expecting the sudden conversion changer. It had seemed less abrupt in Rei’s head. He’s really not doing himself any favours today, is he?

“No,” Nagisa replies, glancing curiously across the store at a particular display of lubricant. “I remember you saying something about how the toy I got needs a special type because the others will burn through the plastic, or something. Thought I’d be best juts to get it when I picked up my order!”

“Yea—no,” Rei stops himself from almost saying. He had said to use water-based lubricants because they wouldn’t damage the plastic not that other lubes would _burn through it._ That would—how would that even work? What does he think is in the lubricants? Acid? If it could burn through plastic, god knows what it would do to your skin, he was ludicrous to think that— _Really?_ He holds his tongue to spare Nagisa a lecture on the breakdown of lubricants and their ingredients. This blond would be the end of him. _Ridiculous! He is absolutely ridiculous!_

_But I have the biggest of crushes on him. Dear lord._

He smiles. Nagisa’s… attempt at remembering is close enough. At least he was trying to heed the advice given, unlike a handful of customers Rei has served in the past. Some tales he had heard (not all lube-related adventures) would haunt his dreams for years.

Rei slides the bag across the counter, quickly checks the order as collected, then heads over towards the main stand of lubricants and aphrodisiacs. The blond follows behind him. He begins by pointing out the basics, in particular those that would not "burn through" his purchase, and then the more enhanced lubricants with differing qualities. He tries not to ramble this time but Nagisa seems eager to listen today; not off in a daze like last time.

He’s about to move onto the aphrodisiacs and stimulants when Nagisa queries, “Okay, so, this warming one and this tingling one. Which one is better?” He holds one in each hand, as if physically weighing them against each other holds the answer.

"Well," Rei begins, judging how best to tackle the question. He is perfectly fine highlighting his own experiences when suitable, but doing so in front of a crush? Now that is entirely different. Unease settles in his chest.

 _Go for a generic answer,_ one half of him says. Really, it’s not very clear-cut, which is why he would usually input his own experience into his answer, along with reports from customers. This is a fine way to handle the situation, yes. It seems grossly inappropriate to start telling Nagisa what _he_ uses. _But it’s not as if he knows you have a crush on him,_ the other half reminds him. Also true. _You make a compelling argument_ , he concedes. Treating the blond like a normal customer will help vanquish any apprehension. He hopes.

"Personally, I have found the Heat Wave one to have little effect when I’ve—well, yes, b-but its dependent on the person, really! Customers have told me that the Cool one is of no use to them." He takes a breath. That could have gone better but it wasn’t horrible. The blond is still looking between the two with a frown, though. Nagisa’s head tilts to the side, considering. His hair falls in motion with it, bangs brushing his cheeks. His hair is a mess, truly, a bit of a walking bedhead, but it suits him well.

“We have samples of the Cool Tingle, if you’d like one?” Rei offers, careful not to ramble on about what other samples they have. “I don’t think we have any of the others, not at the moment anyway.”

Nagisa grins. “Yeah, that’d be great!” He pops the two bottles back on the shelf and picks up the plain water-based lubricant instead; the basic one Rei had advised. “Some of these names are so good. Slide N Ride, Booty Relax…” He giggles. “You’ve got a great advertising campaign going on here. I wanna by them all just for their names!”

Rei smiles. He personally finds the names rather pointless – he much prefers it when lubricants simply say ‘tingling lube’ to ‘Sexy Cool’ because _what does that even mean? –_ but he’s happy to see that the manufacturer’s efforts to entertain aren’t going to waste, especially since they elicited such a sweet laugh from the blond. Everything about him is sweet, if he’s honest with himself, which he doesn’t particularly want to be at a time like this. The little ball in his chest knots. _Why can’t I have these revelations when I’m not giving advice on how to use sex toys?_

Nagisa is talking again. He doesn’t notice until the blond interrupts his own words with an eruption of “Gou!” and is suddenly out of his line of vision.

“It’s Kou!” the redhead barks instinctively, then looks utterly horrified for shouting at a customer. She is half way through her second bow of apology when, wide-eyed, she suddenly cries out a confused “Nagisa?” in response.

*

Nagisa visits the store quite frequently after that. He stops by at least once a week, sometimes just to browse or pick up lube, but he has bought a few things that Rei would consider… _well_ , let’s just say he is moving up in toys faster than expected. Rei has seen frequent customers before but not quite like this.

 _Perhaps he has a partner he is buying for_. He doesn’t admit to himself that it’s a sad thought, particularly with their potential budding friendship (what with the number of times he visits, it would be impossible for Rei and Kou not to be on friendly terms with him).

He doesn’t ask, though. He is only there to advise on the next level or what stimulant would be of the best effect. He finds himself rather wanting to help the blond besides; he would blush to think it but he rather likes knowing that _he_ is the one helping him have a good time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo guys, wassup. I'm sorry for the ridiculously long wait: I started a new job recently and it's taken me a while to adjust and for a while I had all the inspiration sucked out of me. This was basically my least-planned chapter though, so the next two shouldn't take nearly as long! Hope you enjoy!

“So how’s Uni going?” Nagisa asks, watching idly as Rei scans and packs his purchases one-by-one. He’s gotten a lot more comfortable in the store over the past few months, _thank god_ \- trying not to come in more often than is deemed acceptable. He doesn’t think he passes at that, though. He never was one for restraining himself - so now of course he can enjoy Rei’s company to the fullest, even if it means sometimes spending half of his wages on sex toys. Even if it means what he really does while Rei packs his things is watch the assistants hands and maybe possibly imagine them in certain places. He’s probably a little too comfortable, he’ll admit, _but this beauty is definitely gonna be mine._

He had been right before, too: Rei is a Physics major. He is all maths and science, hands down.

Rei graces him with a smile, though it’s strained. “Stressful,” he replies. “Exam season is coming up.”

“Oh, of course! Man, I always hated exams.” Nagisa’s so-called gap year had accidentally extended into two years, so he’d all but lost the concept of when and why exams even existed; besides when Haru and Mako couldn’t swim because of them. “Best of luck, Rei!”

This time when Rei smiles it’s a fond smile, and Nagisa feels his heart do that little somersault in his chest that he’s become accustomed to feeling around Rei. _Progress_ , he thinks. The two of them have practically switched place; Rei is now the one getting flustered the more questions Nasgisa asks, and the blond just finds it to be _so goddamn cute_ that he doesn’t feel guilty for instigating it each time. Nagisa puts it down to the fact that he’s probably one of the friendliest customers he has ever had.

He suspects he’s developing a kink purely for that little glasses thing that Rei does, too.

“Thank you,” Rei says, pushing up his glasses. Nagisa sucks in a breath. Every time he thinks about it, the assistant _goddamn does it_. It’s like he knows. Nagisa wonders if he is cursed. Cursed forever by this bespectacled beauty who doesn’t seem to notice his plight.

Rei slides the two petite bags across the counter, thumbs brushing the countertop. “Is that everything for you?”

“Yep!” Nagisa chirps, thankful for an excuse to distract him from his thoughts. He fishes his wallet out of his back pocket and is counting out money when he notices Rei fidget from behind the desk. “What’s up?”

“I-if I may ask, is there anything wrong with your current products?” the assistant asks hesitantly. Well, there isn’t anything wrong that he knows of and that is an oddly out-of-the-blue specific question. His face must be a blank slate because Rei continues with a hurried explanation.

"Not to overstep any lines with customer confidentiality," Rei begins, and Nagisa steels himself for the far-more-than-likely ramble that this question will turn into. (Not that he minds, it's usually pretty entertaining.) The assistant pushes his glasses awkwardly up his nose before deeming it safe to continue, "But, do you not already have a number of these toys?"

He does, it's true. He has a perfectly reasonable explanation, too, but before he can say anything Rei's waffling begins.

"O-of course, I completely understand that some toys need replenishing after a while when they grow old - or sometimes it is simply nice to have a new version of an old favourite - um, but some of these... Well, you seem to have, er, moved on from beginner type items and it just seems like a strange purchase because it is _so many_ beginner toys?"

The blond opens his mouth to speak. Rei flushes and flusters over himself, and Nagisa finds it so cute he momentarily forgets what words are. Anxious, Rei continues the only way Nagisa has seen him handle awkward situations: going off a on a tanged by continuing to churn out words and theories. "B-but of course, it's none of my business! I realise from experience, that some toys—"

 _God fricken’ dammit._ Tangent-Rei is one of his favourite kinds of Rei, but there he goes talking about his own masturbation habits again. Okay, not _habits_ , but ‘personally’ and ‘from experience’ sentences usually get Nagisa that little bit… roused. It's weird, right, because he only seems to talk about things when he's rambling about something that Nagisa should be paying a little bit more attention to than he does; yet, if Nagisa asks anything or even dares to flirt the teeniest tiniest bit, Rei's face turns into a tomato and he clams up. Maybe he just realises that Nagisa is a little-bit-more than a customer now (wink wink, nudge nudge—he can hope, okay?) Maybe he just comes off too strong.

 _Note to self: turn it down. The sex shop assistant_ clearly _isn’t used to actual sexual-type encounters. (Or maybe he’s just normal_ , says a small voice in the back of his head, _because you’re trying to flirt with him in a_ sex shop!)

Besides finding Rei’s basically-word-vomit-rambles unbearably cute and a wonderful source of fuzzy of feelings in his chest, the personal additions in basically any topic from this store (it really _had_ to be a sex store that he meets the hot guy in, didn't it?) tend to make him sexually frustrated. He's not even gonna lie. He's had more than a few dirty dreams about Rei by now and—they haven't even been the kind of dream he would usually have, either. The assistant's comments seem to have snuck their way into his unconscious and most of the time Nagisa is just watching him... _do things_. And— _God_. Yeah. Those are some good dreams.

Crap, what were they talking about again?

Rei seems to have just finished his rant. He’s breathing is a little laboured too, which is amongst the worst things for Nagisa to set his eyes upon while desperately trying not to recall some of his more vivid of fantasies.

“Sorry!” the blond starts off (always a safe bet), “My stuff is fine; I’m just buying for someone else!”

Rei’s eyebrows quirk up a fraction and for a second Nagisa is worried that he may just have to explain why exactly he is buying sex toys for two of his friends that he maybe suspects are dating in secret. It’s not that weird to buy toys as a gift, is it? (Okay, it is but he’s pretty sure he’s running out of products at this point. It was all he had to go by.) Then he realises the look in Rei’s eyes might just be sadness and the warmth in his chest runs cold. No, nononono, _this is not what I wanted!_

“For friends!” he throws out, a little too late for it to make sense in context of what he said previously. Rei masks his what-looks-like-disappointment well and simply gives Nagisa a knowing smile. _Nooo, Rei, I’m not trying to cover anyone,_ Nagisa whines internally, _I’m not dating anyone! Sopleasedateme._

Before Nagisa can spill out those words without thinking, Gou nudges past Rei to the other side of the counter and humphs, “God, you two, stop flirting and finish the transaction so I can get on the computer.” She either just saved him or ruined one of the few chances he has had to work up the courage to accidentally as Rei out. He’s not sure how to feel.Rei’s cheeks redden at the redhead’s comment and he frantically presses a few buttons on the till before retelling the total to Nagisa. Well, at least one thing good came of this: Rei’s cute lil’ blush.

Once paid, Nagisa doesn’t budge from the counter as the two assistants switch places so and Kou begins managing orders. He’s about to start up a topic of conversation (maybe something not sex related this time – movies?) when Kou suddenly stops what she’s doing and gives an almighty shiver. _Um…_

“It’s still haunting you, I see,” Rei comments, the hint of a smug smile on his lips. Ugh, he really wants to be that familiar with Rei.

“Of course it is!” Gou snaps, angrily poking her finger at several places on the screen.

Nagisa can’t help himself, and asks, “Um… what is?”

“It doesn’t matt—”

“Her brother came into the store last week.”

Gou’s eyes turn to fire on Rei and damn Nagisa would be terrified if that last comment hadn’t left him feeling some weird combination of bewildered and fascinated. Rin-Rin, visiting a sex shop? _Oh my god._ Was he with someone? Did he see Kou? Did he _buy_ anything? Did Kou _serve_ him—no, there would be carnage if he had seen her working here. But she had clearly seen him!

Nagisa may have been holding back from chattering away too much about these shop visits to Haru and Mako (he has to talk to at least _someone_ about his crush) but, boy, was this definitely going to make it into the next update!

“I need details!” he exclaims, bouncing up onto his tip toes to gain some height against the platform the assistants stand on behind the counter. His eyes are sparkling, and from his peripheral vision he can see Rei trying hard to contain a delightful little smile.

“No!” Gou wails, “I don’t wanna relive it!”

Nagisa opens his mouth to ask again and she points a finger accusingly in his direction. “Don’t you dare! I’m leaving to go stock the shelves!”

With that she stalks off, abandoning the cash register to Rei, who is still making that face like he wants to laugh so badly but knows he may face the brunt of Gou’s anger if he dares. Nagisa pouts. He did _really_ want to know more about Rin. Really, really wanted to know. This was one of those one-time only deals, he had to get the details while they were still fresh in someone’s mind before it became just another urban legend about _hey, remember that time Rin was in a sex shop? Yeah, good times._

“Perhaps we should change topic,” Rei offers, attempting a smile that won’t give way to a smirk. The blond can’t help but grin back. He isn’t sure what to bring up to talk about, though. Maybe he was wrong before. He’s such a chatterbox but when he actually has to instigate a conversation, particularly with this assistant, his mind decides to play hide and seek with him. Which especially sucks because he wants to get to know Rei so so much better.

Rei picks this up and says, “Well, I hope your partner enjoys what you bought.”

And of course now Nagisa’s mind is buzzing with thoughts.

“You were right to buy fresh toys,” Rei continues, nudging his glasses up his nose, and Nagisa can’t help but wonder if it’s to hide that maybe-possibly-disappointed look he seemed to have before. “Even with cleaning, it’s the best course of action to save spreading bacteria or anything else that may—”

Nagisa waves his hands frantically, words tumbling out of his mouth before he can properly form them into anything. As consequence of course, he sounds stupid. “No nonono! You’re wrong!”

Rei looks the picture of mystified. “I… can assure you that it is safer to have separate toys,” he attempts, though he’s eying Nagisa oddly. _I am in physical pain_ , the blond thinks. He can’t tell Rei he wants to get into his pants yet – he hasn’t gotten to know him yet and he wants to want much more than that!

Again, his struggle goes unnoticed. So begins another rant, à la Rei. “Unless you meant that you have already shared the toys, which isn’t unsafe, really, but—”

“I haven’t used them with anyone!” Nagisa all but shouts. He doesn’t feel guilty for interrupting but damn his cheeks are burning. He presses his hands to them – yep, definitely _on fire_ – to cool them down, hoping his hands are cold enough (plot twist: they’re not). This seems to have given entirely the wrong impression to Rei, who looks mortified beyond belief to have embarrassed Nagisa.

Are people even looking at them? He hasn’t noticed.

“Rei,” he states quickly, and Rei composes himself from his hurried, messy bow. “I don’t have a partner.” He pauses intentionally, watching to gauge the other’s reaction. The assistant’s eyes widen as his face relaxes, and Nagisa notices the unmistakable hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Perfect, excellent, but that sweet expression is warming his heart a little too much at the moment and he’s too nervous to venture down that path, so he continues with, “I’m buying these on behalf of friends I thought might want to try them out.”

From behind the counter, Rei smooth’s out his shirt while he thinks of a reply. Nagisa wouldn’t know what to reply to that either, to be honest. Bless Rei for trying. “That is very… generous of you. And expensive.”

Nagisa chuckles sheepishly. “Yeah, maybe… I’ll just see how it—”

And that would be his phone violently vibrating in his back pocket, blaring out that one European song that he loves despite the annoyance it spreads to everyone around him.

“Oh, sorry!” He turns the alarm off (pausing for just a few seconds to enjoy the song beforehand) finally picking up his purchases from the counter and ambling a few steps back from the counter. The assistant looks unfazed for the most part by his silly song choice. Nagisa finds himself wondering vaguely if Rei would come to hate the song if he heard it often enough, should they date. “I forgot about that appointment. Gotta go or I’ll be date—late! I mean late!”

He panics, and prompts the loveliest of chuckles from the assistant. “Enjoy your not-date,” he teases as Nagisa propels himself backwards out of the store.

Nagisa’s face remains red the entire way to his swimming class. Haru and Mako don’t even question it once they see the bag clenched in his grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also maybe wrote a little something regarding Rin's visit to the store that you can find [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1898610/chapters/4093032) from Kou's POV. If my ideas don't shrivel up, there'll be chapters from both Aiichirou and Rin's POVs too.


End file.
